Basha Miao Village | Biasha Miao Village

Lying on the southern border Guizhou, Basha village is famed for being China 's last tribe of gunmen. This primitive miao village is hidden away in a forest and filled with stilted wooden houses by the river.

Basha village is home to over 1,000 residents living in more than 400 households. Their ancestors were frontline troops who charged through forests and fought the bears there -- all to guard the land where they lived. Through hundreds of years, they have been guarding their homeland. Still today the men in Basha preserve their musketeer heritage, which makes Basha the only tribe that can legally carry real guns in China. A strong sense of precaution inherited from their ancestors keeps this village isolated from the outside world. The villagers lead a self-sufficient life in the hilly areas and retain the dressing and living customs hundreds of years ago.

The villagers in Basha worship trees, especially maples, as gods. They believe the buns on their heads represent trees, while the purple clothes they wear represent bark. (The color is a special bluish purple. Biasha people usually add egg whites into the indigo when dying the coarse cloth, making it shiny and waterproof.) In Basha, a tree is planted whenever a baby is born. Often it will be cut down to make the coffin when the person eventually dies. Cutting down ancient trees is forbidden in the village.

Basha men are also famous for their unique hairstyles. Like the men in the Qing dynasty, Basha men wear their long hair in braids. They attach great importance to their hair bun, which they believe is a symbol of masculinity, as well as an emblem of power. This is a hairstyle that 's existed for thousands of years.

Young boys have to take part in a shaving ceremony between the ages of seven and fifteen. The tribe leader wets a sickle with the water used to boil eggs, and shaves off all of the boy's hair except for the central part, which is coiled into a bun. The blade caresses the scalp, and patches of hair fall to the ground. This shave is done without any shaving cream, or even a rinse. Boys get their first haircuts as a rite of passage, and then are given a hunting rifle at the age of 15 as a sign that they've become adults.